KYAIKTO – August 10 11
Transport
Bus from Mawlamyine at 9.20 (7000 MM). I’m sure there is an earlier one, but it is difficult to get precise schedules. So, it’s always better to check timetables the day before. Kyaikto is the hub for those who are headed to the Golden Rock. This city apparently has little to offer, and it’s not very touristy, but here, on the main road, the buses on the Yangon–Mawlamyine route stop, and always here there is the main stop for pick ups to Kinpun, which actually is the village from which the trucks of pilgrims depart and hosts several hotels and restaurants. My initial idea was to reach Kinpun, but the usual tropical storm waiting for me at the arrival makes me change my mind. Close to my stop, next to a large roundabout which marks the entrance to the city, I notice a couple of guesthouses. Since it is 13.00, and pick ups for Kinpun leave mainly in the early morning, I decide to stay here. While I am waiting for the rain to stop to walk back to the guesthouses, I am surrounded by flocks of mototaxis, which I firmly reject. Here I meet the most asphyxiating touts throughout Burma. One of them, a psycopathyc, perhaps, more than a real Intermediary, despite my numerous attempts to piss him off, follows me to the guesthouse, demanding a commission. The manager believes thankfully to my version, and chase him.
First, I want to buy a bus ticket to Yangon for the next day, 7000 MMK, Than Kyaw Thein is the company. I choose the night one (departure 22.30), but it is a mistake, because the visit to the Golden Rock keeps me busy only till noon, and I could had time to take the afternoon (14.30) bus. Buying the ticket in advance was not a good idea, not so much for the boring afternoon spent in Kyaikto with nothing to do, but more because of the arrival in Yangon in the middle of the night (2.00).
Sleep
Happy Guesthouse, for 13 USD they offer a generously sized room (although the window overlooks a corridor and not the garden), with TV, air conditioning, poor breakfast and attached clean bathroom
Very kind owners, they send to youngest son with his bicycle to Thein Kyaw Than office to buy me the ticket.
Eat
Especially in the evening, not so many offers. On the main street, in the market area, there are a few stalls with limited choice. But they prepare some noodles that taste as spaghetti with tomato sauce, delicious, though cold. 300 MMK: it was the least expensive meal of the holiday!
In the center I discover Parrot, a patisserie which, till 20, prepares simple dishes, such as noodles, rice, etc. 2500 MMK fried rice, orange juice 500 MMK. Great demand for their cakes and ice creams, a continuous bustle of customers.
Impressions
Trying to kill time, in the late afternoon I reach by chance a very nice monastery with a small gold rock in miniature, and great views of the valley below.
The unpleasant episode of the very aggressive mototaxi tout is balanced by a very sweet motorcyclist who sees me walking in the street at 20.00 with the luggage, and offers me a free lift to the bus stop.
Excursions
GOLDEN ROCK – PICK UP
I wake up early, I empty the room, I leave everything in the reception, and I rush to the point where all the pickups gather and I easily identify the one directed to Kinpun, helped by the locals, and wriggling the aggressive pressures of mototaxis. The journey takes place in a friendly atmosphere, almost all the occupants are women returning from the market, and the floor overflows of merchandise, big bags and parcels, so that it is difficult to keep feet on the ground. The ride costs me 500 MMK and the same is the return. In the central square of Kinpun some guys indicate to me the starting point of trucks, and ticket office (5000 MMK return). On the back of trucks people accommodate on wooden benches. “accommodate” is not the right word, since everybody is packed like sardines, and the truck leaves only when it is 100% full.
The sun is shining in Kinpun, but the truck for about 45 minutes climbs zigzagging along the sides of a mountain, and we arrive at destination immersed in a dense fog
Foreigners pay 6000 MMK for the entrance fee. The asphalt path leading to the entrance is lined with shops, all closed, only some street vendor of sweets around, I buy rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves. I skirt some hotels. Except one, the Mountain Top, that is not worth the price anyway (150 USD), the others seem really poor
Impressions
The most sacred and revered shrine in Burma does not impress me much. Few people, few scenes of devotion, more tourists than pilgrims: I saunter around, among a dog poop and a dead mouse, and then I leave. I imagined something located in a different context, more nature and less human artifice.